Ray Cooper
Album: Palace Of Tears
Label: West Park
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.raycooper.org

Whilst most people still know Ray Cooper best as Chopper, bass player and cellist, with the Oysterband, rather than the singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist performing under his own name, that ratio is changing and the release of "Palace Of Tears" his new album and follow up to "Tales Of Love, War And Death By Hanging", will only accelerate that process.

"Palace Of Tears" is an album that feels big and not just because of the strength of the orchestration and arrangements, but because it's an album that deals with powerful issues; a maelstrom of emotions, anger, regret, injustice, hope and fears that is heartily mixed with politics both on a personal, internalising level and the wider, almost global scale.

Scandinavia, where Ray is based, tends towards thoughtful and reflective music and there's a strong vein of that that permeates the rooms and floors of "Palace Of Tears" and one that finds an easy synergy with the cynicism that is part of the British culture, but as with the best of these things, it provides a sounding board that Ray liberally throws ideas against and creates some sweeping canvases to describe his thoughts and ideas.

The unifying factor across the songs are a cinematic quality, be it a black and white, film noir or a stop go time lapse that sees an idea go from bud to a fully formed and beautiful flow in a four and a half minute process.

The album is getting a castle and church tour in Germany and actually that provides a very good metaphor for the album. They are buildings that reflect forces that are supposed to and can do good things to protect and inspire, but ultimately you know that there is something that's not quite right within, sure they can look magnificent, but if scratch beneath the veneer, there is something rotten beneath, something that needs to be exposed in order for something better to take its place and if it's done well it doesn't feel like a lecture. "Palace Of Tears" is a place of dark discovery, but one that really does show elements of a decent restoration and offers a hope for the task to be finished. An album that inspires.

Neil King